More... 3.3 Based on the different ways in which they affect the brain, psychoactive drugs can be divided into four main groups: depressants (e.g., alcohol and sedatives), stimulants (e.g., nicotine and ecstasy), opioids (e.g., morphine and heroin), and hallucinogens (e.g., PCP and LSD).
So is there any place in the United States an 18-year-old can escape the uniform 21-year-old drinking age? For a while, Louisiana was a safe haven for thirsty teens. To comply with the letter of the national drinking age law, the state passed a law that made it illegal to buy alcohol if you were under 21.
But resentment among 18-to-20-year-olds simmers. For much of the 20th century, the legal drinking age in the United States had a bumpy ride. After Prohibition ended in 1933, you had to be 21 to sidle up to a bar. During the height of the Vietnam War, 18 was your ticket to a six-pack. But by the late â70s, the minimum drinking age was all over the map, literally, with various states having tacked on an extra year or two.